Didem Kurt. Katz Graduate School of Business University of Pittsburgh 245 Mervis Hall Pittsburgh, PA

Didem Kurt

Katz Graduate School of Business

University of Pittsburgh • 245 Mervis Hall • Pittsburgh, PA 15260 412-818-7693 • dkurt@katz.pitt.edu

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Marketing, expected 2012 University of Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh, PA M.B.A. (Finance), May, 2007

University of Alabama – Tuscaloosa, AL

B.S. in Political Science and Public Administration, June, 2003 Middle East Technical University – Ankara, Turkey

JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS

Kurt, Didem, J. Jeffrey Inman,and Jennifer J. Argo (2011), “The Influence of Friends on Consumer

Spending: The Role of Agency-Communion and Self-Monitoring,” Journal of Marketing Research, 48

(August), 741-754. Essay I of dissertation

RESEARCH UNDER REVIEW

Kurt, Didemand J. Jeffrey Inman, “Seeing Things from the Other Guy’s Point of View: Self-Other

Difference in the Context of Endowment,” revising for third review at Journal of Consumer Research.

Essay II of dissertation

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS (See Appendix for selected abstracts)

Kurt, Didem and Karen M. Stilley, “The Licensing Effect of Shopping Basket Composition on

Impulsive Spending,” finalizing the manuscriptfor submission to Journal of Marketing Research.

Kurt, Didem and John S. Hulland, “Changing the Rules of the Game: The Impact on Firm Value of Adopting an Aggressive Marketing Strategy Following Equity Offerings,” finalizing the manuscript for submission to Management Science.

Kurt, Didem, R. Venkatesh, and Robert J. Gilbert, “The Marketing of Green Products: A Study of

Consumer Preferences for Hybrid Cars,” finalizing the manuscript for submission to Journal of

Marketing.

Kurt, Didem, “Does Social Power Promote Financial Risk Taking? The Role of Agency-Communion,”

two studies completed. Essay III of dissertation

Kurt, Didem and J. Jeffrey Inman, “A 360 Degree View of Shopper Decision Making: An Eye

-Tracking and Ambulatory EEG Study,” data collection in progress. BOOK CHAPTERS

Kurt, Didem and John S. Hulland(2011), “Corporate Financial Policy and Marketing Strategy: The

Case of IPOs and SEOs,” in Handbook of Marketing and Finance, eds. Sundar Bharadwaj and Shankar

DISSERTATION

Three Essays on the Social Aspect of Consumer Decision Making: Social Presence, Social Prediction, and Social Power

Chair: J. Jeffrey Inman

Committee Members: Jennifer J. Argo, Cait Poynor Lamberton, Karen M. Stilley, and Vanitha

Swaminathan

Human beings are social creatures whose preferences and consumption decisions are shaped through their interactions with those around them. Every day consumers buy and use products that are

observable to others. Thus, consumers are social actors whose decisions have the potential to influence

and be influenced by other consumers. Accordingly, previous research suggests that social influence

and social prediction (i.e., how would others behave in a similar situation?) can have a profound impact

on individuals’ consumption patterns. Despite the popularity of the social aspect of decision making in

consumer research, there are certain topics that received very little attention to date. In my dissertation,

I explored three such underresearched topics, namely (1) the effect of the presence of an

accompanying friendon consumer spending, (2) the accuracy of social predictions in the context of

endowment, and (3) the impact of social power on financial risk taking.

Essay I: The Influence of Friends on Consumer Spending: The Role of Agency-Communion and Self-Monitoring

In my first essay, I examine whether an accompanyingfriend influences how much consumers spend

during a particular shopping trip. I propose that shopping with friends activates impression

management concerns, leading consumers to adjust their spending to conform to the expectations that their friends have of them. Across multiple studies, I document that agentic consumers (i.e., males) spend more when they shop with a friend as compared to when they shop alone, whereas the amount spent by communal consumers (i.e., females) is about the same regardless of whether they shop with a

friend. I attribute this to the notion that agentic consumers are self-focused and strive for status (Bakan

1966) and thus, engage in self-promotion through increased spending while shopping with friends. On

the other hand, spending more to impress a friend is not consistent with the modest nature of

communalconsumers, leading them to keep their spending under control in the presence of a friend.

Further, consistent with the impression management explanation, I find that friends are especially

influential for consumers high in self-monitoring, although the effects work in opposite directions for

agentic and communal consumers. While agentic consumers high in self-monitoring spend more with a

friend, communal consumers high in self-monitoring spend less when accompanied by a friend. Finally,

these findings appear to be spending context dependent as I document that when the spending is for a

good cause (i.e., donating to a charity), communal consumers with high self-monitoring loosen their

purse strings in the presence of a friend, while donation behavior of agentic consumers is not influenced by an accompanying friend.

Essay II: Seeing Things from the Other Guy’s Point of View: Self-Other Difference in the Context of Endowment

Perspective taking shapes our perception of the world around us and thus, our consumption decisions. However, an accurate understanding of others’ perspective cannot always be easily achieved. In my second essay, I examine whether consumers accurately predict how valuable an object would be to other consumers. Building on research in several domains including affective psychology of value,

empathy gaps, and social prediction, I propose and find that owners underestimate the average selling

price stated by other owners, whereas buyers overestimate the average buying price stated by other buyers. I attribute this to a self-other difference in the value function arising from empathy gaps.

Accordingly, I document thatincreased perceived similarity between the self and the target people

attenuates the bias in owners’ and buyers’ predictions of valuations of others in the same role. Further,

I find that greater perspective taking (i.e., the cognitive capacity to consider the world from others’

viewpoints) is associated with lower estimation errors when participants are high, but not low, in empathy (i.e., the ability to connect emotionally with other individuals).

Essay III: Does Social Power Promote Financial Risk Taking? The Role of Agency-Communion

Social power has long been recognized by socialscientists as a determinant of human behavior but it is

not until recently that researchers have started to examine its impact on individuals’ consumption and

spending patterns (e.g., Rucker and Galinsky 2008; Rucker et al. 2011). In my third essay, I investigate

an alternative channel through which social power can influence consumers’ wealth management― financial risk taking. I propose that the impact of social power on consumers’ financial risk taking is

not simple but contingent on their agency-communion orientation (i.e., the tendency to focus on the

self or others; Bakan 1966). In particular, I predict and find that having power versus lackingpower

increases financial risk taking by agentic individuals, but not communal individuals. My prediction is based on the notion that self-oriented individuals associate power with self-interest goals, whereas other-oriented individuals associate power with responsibility goals (Chen et al. 2001). That is, since

increased wealth can fortify agentic individuals’ powerful position and help them maintain their status,

they tend to make risky financial decisions when they experience a state of power. However, taking risks with the goals of enhancing financial position and maintaining the status associated with power is

inconsistent with communal goals. Consistent with my proposed framework, I also document that the

impact of social power on agentic individuals’ financial risk taking is reversed such that they take less

risk when the outcome of the risky decision they make benefits othersmorethan themselves (i.e., 75%

rather than 25% of their winnings in a gamble are donated to a charity). On the other hand, communal

individuals experiencing power refrain from taking higher risk regardless of the self versus others

benefit framing.

Taken together, my dissertation examines the social aspect of consumer decisionmaking from three

different perspectives that are closely related to consumers’ welfare and well-being: (1) the costly influence of friends’ presence in the market place, (2) the biased predictions of the valuations of other

consumers, (3) the propensity to take higher financial risk due to the possession of social power. The

findings of my dissertation not only extend our current understanding of social influence but also add to the nascent literature examining how agency-communion orientation impacts consumers’ financial decisions.

RESEARCH INTERESTS Social Influence

In-Store Decision Making and Shopper Marketing Marketing-Finance Interface

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

“The Licensing Effect of Shopping Basket Composition on Impulsive Spending,” Paper to be

presented at the Association for Consumer Research Conference, St. Louis, MO.

“SeeingThings from the Other Guy’s Point of View: Self-Other Difference in the Context of

Endowment,” Paper to be presented at the Association for Consumer Research Conference, St. Louis, MO.

“Changing the Rules of the Game: The Impact on Firm Value of Adoptingan Aggressive Marketing

Strategy Following Equity Offerings,” Paper presented at the Marketing Science Conference, Houston, TX

(June 2011).

“Changing the Rules of the Game: The Impact on Firm Value of Adopting an Aggressive Marketing

Strategy FollowingEquity Offerings,” Paper presented at the Marketing Strategy Meets Wall Street II

Conference, Boston, MA (May 2011).

“The Licensing Effect of Shopping Basket Composition on Impulsive Spending,” Poster presented at

“Predicting the Endowment Effect: Does Being in the Same Shoes Help?” Paper presented at the

Society for Consumer Psychology Winter Conference, Atlanta, GA (February 2011).

“How Friends Promote Consumer Spending,” Paper presented at the Association for Consumer Research

Conference, Pittsburgh, PA(October 2009).

“How Friends Promote Consumer Spending,” Paper presented at the 39th Annual Haring Symposium,

Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (March 2009).

“How Friends Promote Consumer Spending,” Poster presented at the Society for Consumer Psychology

Winter Conference, San Diego, CA (February 2009).

HONORS AND AWARDS

AMA Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium Fellow, 2009

Haring Symposium Fellow, Indiana University, 2009

Mitsubishi Fellow, University of Pittsburgh, 2007-2008

International Advisory Board Scholarship, University of Alabama, 2006

Dean’s Scholarship, University of Alabama, 2005-2007

REVIEWING ACTIVITY

Journal of Consumer Research – Doctoral student reviewer trainee

Association for Consumer Research Conference, 2009, 2011 Society for Consumer Psychology Winter Conference, 2009, 2011

AMA Summer Marketing Educators’ Conference - Consumer Behavior track, 2010-2011

AMA Summer Marketing Educators’ Conference - Retailing and Pricing track, 2009-2010

TEACHING INTERESTS

Consumer Behavior,Retailing,Introduction to Marketing, Marketing Research

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Consumer Behavior,Instructor, University of Pittsburgh,Spring 2011 (Teaching Evaluation: 4.00/5.00)

Consumer Behavior, Instructor, University of Pittsburgh,Spring 2010 (Teaching Evaluation: 4.04/5.00)

Marketing Research, Teaching Assistant, University of Pittsburgh, Spring 2009

Introduction to Marketing, Teaching Assistant, University of Pittsburgh, Fall 2008 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Manager of Retail Stores, Gural Porselen, Kutahya, Turkey, 2003-2005

• Managed marketing and sales activities of 38 retail stores of the company;

• Involved in new product development and coordinated marketing research activities of the

company. COURSEWORK

Marketing and Decision Making

Behavioral Economics (CMU) George Loewenstein

Consumer Behavior Cait Poynor Lamberton

Human Judgment and Decision Making (CMU) Robyn Dawes

Marketing Strategy Vanitha Swaminathan

Marketing Models R. Venkatesh Pro-Seminar in Marketing Katz Marketing Faculty

Microeconomics Esther Gal-Or

Methods

Introduction to Econometric Theory (CMU) Shamena Anwar

Econometric Theory and Methods (CMU) Melvin Stephens

Experimental Design (CMU) Howard Seltman

Behavioral Research Methods John Hulland

Multivariate Analysis for Behavioral Research John Hulland

Hierarchical Linear Modeling Feifei Ye

Intermediate Probability Leon Gleser

Applied Regression Kevin Kim

Capital Markets Research in Accounting Mei Feng

REFERENCES

J. Jeffrey Inman Jennifer J. Argo

Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Cormie Professor of Marketing

Albert Wesley Frey Professor of Marketing

and Professor of Business Administration Room 3-20J Business Building

Department of Marketing, Business

356 Mervis Hall Economics and Law

Katz Graduate School of Business University of Alberta

University of Pittsburgh Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6G 2R6

Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (780) 492-3900

(412) 648-1570 jennifer.argo@ualberta.ca

jinman@katz.pitt.edu

R. Venkatesh John S. Hulland

Professor of Business Administration Robert O. Arnold Professor of Business

Area Director, Marketing and Business Economics Department of Marketing and Distribution

332 Mervis Hall Terry College of Business

Katz Graduate School of Business University of Georgia

University of Pittsburgh Athens, GA 30602

Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (724) 766-1465

(412) 648-1725 jhulland@uga.edu

rvenkat@katz.pitt.edu

Cait Poynor Lamberton

Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Fryrear Faculty Fellow

364 Mervis Hall

Katz Graduate School of Business University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA 15260

(412) 779-7280

APPENDIX:DESCRIPTION OF SELECTED RESEARCH

Kurt, Didem, J. Jeffrey Inman, and Jennifer J. Argo (2011), “The Influence of Friends on Consumer

Spending: The Role of Agency-Communion and Self-Monitoring,” Journal of Marketing Research, in press.

Essay I of dissertation (paper attached)

Four studies investigate the interactive influence of the presence of an accompanying friend and a

consumer’s agency-communion orientation on the consumer’s spending behaviors. In general, the

authors find that shopping with a friend can be expensive for agency-oriented consumers (e.g., males),

but not for communion-oriented consumers (e.g., females). That is, consumers who are agency

-oriented spend significantly more when they shop with a friend (versus when they shop alone), whereas this effect is attenuated for consumers who are communion-oriented. The results also show that this

interactive effect is moderated by individual differences in self-monitoring such that friends are

especially influential for consumers who are high in self-monitoring, but the effects occur in opposite

directions for agency- and communion-oriented consumers (i.e., agentic consumers spend more with a friend, while communal consumers spend less when accompanied by a friend). Finally, the authors test the underlying process and document that the interaction among agency-communion orientation, the

presence of a friend, and self-monitoring is reversed when the focal context is changed from “spending

for the self” to “donating to a charity”.

Kurt, Didem and J. Jeffrey Inman, “SeeingThings from the Other Guy’s Point of View: Self-Other

Difference in the Context of Endowment,” revising for third review at Journal of Consumer Research.

Essay II of dissertation (paper attached)

Three studies investigate perspective taking among consumers who assume the same role in the context of endowment (i.e., owners vs. owners and buyers vs. buyers). We document that even being in the shoes of others (e.g., being an owner and estimating the valuation of other owners) does not enable people to accurately predict the valuation of others. Specifically, owners underestimate the average selling price demanded by other owners, whereas buyers overestimate the average purchase price offered by other buyers. We attribute this to a self-other difference in valuation due to intrarole empathy gaps. As predicted, we find that priming similarities between participants significantly reduces

documented estimation errors. Furthermore, we find that higher perspective taking tendency is

associated with more accurate predictions only when participants are high in empathic ability. Kurt, Didem and Karen M. Stilley, “The Licensing Effect of Shopping Basket Composition on

Impulsive Spending,” finalizing the manuscript for submission to Journal of Marketing Research.

This paper examines the licensing effect of shopping basket composition (utilitarian vs. hedonic) on

subsequent impulsive spending during a particular shopping trip. In study 1, we find that consumers

who purchased utilitarian items (e.g., grapes) spend more on a subsequent impulsive purchase than

those who purchased hedonic items (e.g., cookies) but only when consumers have notaccumulated any savings on their prior purchases. We attribute this to the notion that buying utilitarian items leads to positive self-attributions, whereas buying hedonic items induces guilt and that savings offered on hedonic products play a guilt-mitigating role(e.g., Khan and Dhar 2010). Consistent with our proposed

framework,in study 2,we document that consumers with high chronic consumption guilt drive the

documented licensing effect of utilitarian versus hedonic shopping baskets. Finally, in study 3, we test our prediction in a real-shopping setting using the data collected from 400 grocery shoppers who kept track of their purchases with a hand-held scanner. We again find that the lower hedonicity rating of the shopping basket is associated with higher subsequent impulsive spending only when accumulated savings are low.

Kurt, Didem, R. Venkatesh, and Robert J. Gilbert, “The Marketing of Green Products: A Study of

Consumer Preferences for Hybrid Cars,” finalizing the manuscript for submission to Journal of

Marketing.

Green – a moniker for energy efficiency, dollar savings and environmental friendliness – is creating

new buzz in several established product markets. Hybrid cars, energy efficient light bulbs, and solar

water heaters are just a few examples of green products with distinct value propositions and the

potential to alter consumption habits in fundamental ways.In this paper, we address two important

questions: (1) how do consumers’ personality and usage characteristics influence their preference

intensities for green products, and (2) in what ways should marketing strategies (in terms of warranty and advertising message) for green products be different from those for conventional offerings? We build several propositions related to each questionand test them with the data from the hybrid car market. In collaboration with a regional car dealer, we executed a survey among 190 hybrid and conventional car owners. Our results suggest that consumers with greater focus on future (vs. distant)

outcomes of their decisions, lower risk aversion and higher need for social recognition are more likely

to own a hybrid car than a conventional car. These effects however are attenuated for older consumers.

In addition, we find that participants’ recycling shopping behavior and usage intensity are positively

associated with the probability of hybrid car ownership. Our results also reveal that fuel economy and environmental benefits are equally important in shaping consumers’ decisions to choose a hybrid version over a conventional version. Further, we document that conventional car owners factor the length of warranty more heavily into their purchase decisions as compared to hybrid car owners.

Kurt, Didem and John S. Hulland, “Changing the Rules of the Game: The Impact on Firm Value of

Adopting an Aggressive Marketing Strategy Following Equity Offerings,” finalizing the manuscript for submission to Management Science.

This paper examines how changes in firms’ marketing strategies following initial public offerings (IPOs) and seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) impact firm value. We first show that both IPO and SEO

firms adopt a more aggressive marketing strategy during the two years following their offering.

However, we then contend that not all issuers benefit equally from this increase in marketing spending,

and identify a boundary condition for the link between marketing expenditure and firm value: relative

financial leverage of industry rivals. Our prediction is rooted in the theoretical and empirical literature

examining the connection between financial leverage and product market competition. We find that the stock market reacts favorably to an aggressive marketing strategy initiated by issuers competing against relatively highly leveraged rivals, whereas increased marketing expenditures do not translate into higher firm value when rivals are less leveraged. Furthermore, we show that marketing expenditures create value within context: the role of marketing expenditures in enhancing shareholder value and the

moderating effect of relative financial leverage of rivals are more pronounced in the two-year window

following an offering than at any other time. Overall, this paper contributes to the nascent literature

examining how marketing and finance resources interact around equity offerings, and provides

evidence for a potential “contingency theory of marketing-finance interface” (Luo 2008) by

documenting that the impact of marketing on firm value is heterogeneous across firms and market conditions.